Hi, there.

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Picture two breweries in your city.

The first, eager to quickly build an audience, prominently displays values like "quality," "community" and "integrity" on their website and in social posts. Ask their team to tell you what their values are and… crickets.

The second brewery barely mentions values anywhere in their marketing. Yet ask their employees what drives day-to-day decisions, and they'll tell you without hesitation:

"It hurts, but we'll dump a batch before we ever send something out the door that we're not proud of."

Or,

"I know I can bounce, no questions asked, if I need to run home and take care of my kid. I love that flexibility."

This contrast cuts to the heart of a recent conversation we've been having at CODO:

Should your values be framed as a marketing tool — as a way to differentiate your brewery — or should they emerge organically from how you actually run your business?

Understanding Brand Values

Your brand values are the immutable code that govern how you run your business. They are manifested through your actions and behaviors, particularly when no one’s looking. 

– What do you stand for? 

– What is your unique point of view?

– Why do you brew beer the way you do? 

– What are your non-negotiables? 

– Why do you exist?

When framing values with our clients, we like Patrick Lencioni’s rubric from The Advantage, which breaks values into three categories:
 

1. Permission-to-play (PtP) Values

These cover the table stakes stuff we hear on every project — quality, integrity, craft, community, etc. 

This is a helpful tier to use as you frame your values because these things are important (yes, you should strive to make the best beer possible. And yes, you should walk through life with integrity). But these aren’t meaningfully differentiated from any other brewery.

PtP gives you a bucket in which to throw these values so that they’re not deleted entirely. Again, these are important—maybe not Core Value important — but this tier gives these ideas a place to live within your business strategy. 

2. Aspirational Values

These are values that you don't quite live by yet, but that you aspire to reach. In practice, they operate exactly like core values. For example, a brewery might aspire to source 100% of ingredients locally. While not currently achievable, this aspiration drives decisions about supplier relationships, recipe development and capital investment.

3. Core Values

These are the driving principles behind your business. They guide all decisions and shape your culture at all levels.

These are your internal guideposts that help you build a team and foster esprit de corps at all levels of your business. 

These are the driving principles behind your business. The most important pressure test: You should be able to truthfully claim to live by this value more than 99% of your competition. If not, it's likely a Permission-to-play value.

(Above): I went through a phase in 2017/18 where I read several dozen business books (I know this is lame. Don't laugh — we were growing at an uncomfortable clip and I was trying to figure out how to manage it). Hardly any of them are worth your time. The Advantage, however, is one of the most important books I've ever read. It had a huge impact on how Cody and I are building CODO and I wish we'd found it 16 years ago when we graduated and hung out our shingle.

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Should Brand Values be expressly public facing? 

Yes, publicly stating your values matters. Consumers support businesses that align with their worldview, and strong values attract and retain talented staff.

But viewing your values primarily through a marketing lens introduces a perverse incentive. 

When you start with external perception in mind, you risk adopting values you think you should have, rather than ones that genuinely reflect your team's beliefs and drive your operations.

This often results in permission-to-play values being elevated to core value status, creating a disconnect between your public image and internal reality.

How we recommend framing your values 

Instead, consider this sequence:

1. Frame all three levels of your values (Permission-to-play, Aspirational, and Core)

2. Think entirely internally — develop these as though no outsider will ever see them

3. Build your team and business around these genuine principles

4. Let your marketing flow naturally from these authentic values

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Your brand values shouldn't start as marketing tools — they should start as your operational truth. 

The most compelling brand stories in craft beer come from breweries that operate with unwavering commitment to their genuine principles. When you build from within, authentic values naturally become powerful external differentiators, attracting both customers and talent who share your vision.

The question isn't whether your values should be public-facing, but whether they're genuine enough to stand up to public scrutiny. 

Start with what truly drives your brewery, and the marketing will take care of itself.